For you Tammy... I will try to gather a collection of thoughts.

It seemed like this was the year of the male bellydancer at the IBCC.

Gala star Tito was spectacular with three workshops of his energetic style. Jim Boz danced on the main stage Friday night and did a subtle, refined performance, Mark Balahadia brought a new feel to the stage, Ozgen Ozgec was a Turkish whirlwind of power and did a segment with a section of rope that was amazing to watch. I danced with The Righteous Rogues Of Raks Sharki (and Yasmina Ramzy's Arabesque Dance Company), Nath Keo was on the Gala stage with his troupe Sacred Centre, as were Mayyadah and Amir from Germany doing Orientale.

There was also a panel on Male Bellydance that had Me, Mark, Jim Boz, bellydance academic Stavros Karayanni and Tito that went over a lot of the issues in the male bellydance community.

The other gala stars at the show were Aida Nour (who, along with Tito wowwed everyone Saturday night when she and Tito did a duet on stage). UNMATA were the tribal act and blew people away with both their challenging workshop and their performance on the gala stage. Amy also took part in the Tribal panel. Bozenka, who I have always adored as a dancer and who I have all new respect for, Ferda Bayazit who taught Turkish Rom dance and Lopa Sarkar who taught a grand Bollywood workshop.

Performances that knocked my socks off: Jim Boz, always a quality act; Asha from Georgia who did some thrilling balancing dancing with a wine glass on her head. She did drops, level changes, spins and a death spiral that had me holding my breath; Mariyah from New York did a superb veil piece and danced again on Sunday night at Layali Arabesque; Ozgen Ozgec was all male power (Go Team Testosterone) edVenture Arts from Edmonton Alberta had a bellydance street gang fight on stage that was funny and technically spiff; Dominique from Quebec did tribal fusion and was slick; Ranya Renee brought her Maqamikaze troupe from NYC with her and they brought a nice new feel to bellydance with a theatrical bent to their performance.

The highs: Watching Tito dance to the music of the Arabesque Orchestra at the Sunday night closing party at Myth; looking over during one of Tito's workshops and seeing all the male bellydancers were in the same area learning, and feeling that male energy; Getting to meet so many new people who geek out about bellydance as much as I do. I love immersing myself in that.

The lows: Being exhausted. I overdid it again this year what with workshops, dancing almost every night, teaching privates and running errands for the conference. We also said goodbye to two troupe members after Saturday's gala show and it got a bit emotional. The other problem was that the local transit went on strike on Friday night, meaning conference goers had to pony up cash for cabs ($$$$$) rather than rely on the cheap transit system. It also caused more traffic on the roads, which was a pain.

Revelations: Interesting views came out during the Tribal panel from local people. Some things to think about for me.